“Are you kidding me? That’s way out there. It takes light five-and-a-half hours to get there. Are you kidding? Well, we did it yesterday,” Schmit said.

But Schmit says both are important to humans on earth.

“People are talking about why are you going to spend money in space? Well actually, we’re not spending it in space. It’s all spent down here. Jobs, people, building the probes. People designing them, that’s all in our economy just like anything else,” Schmit said.

The New Horizons probe is beginning to send images of Pluto back to Earth. You may have seen one earlier on WCCO 4 News at 5 or CBS.

Pat Kessler knows Minnesota politics. He's been on the beat longer than any other TV reporter in the Twin Cities, covering state government, politics, campaigns and conventions since 1984. Pat "pulls back the curtain" on what's happening in...